The present invention relates to cleaning and remanufacturing methods for a developer container for supplying developer to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, or the like, which employs an electrophotographic or electrostatic recording method.
It has been a common practice to use toner in the form of microscopic powder, as developer for an image forming apparatus such as a printer. As the amount of the toner in the developer in the main assembly of an image forming apparatus is reduced by consumption to a critical level, the image forming apparatus main assembly is replenished with toner, with the use of a toner supply container removably mountable in the image forming apparatus main assembly.
When supplying an image forming apparatus main assembly with toner, a toner supply container is driven by the driving force from the image forming apparatus main assembly. More specifically, the toner within the toner supply container is conveyed by the stirring/conveying member rotated by the driving force from the image forming apparatus main assembly, and as the stirring/conveying member is rotated, a predetermined small amount of toner is discharged from the toner outlet of the toner supply container to supply the image forming apparatus main assembly with toner.
However, the above described toner supplying method suffered from the following problem.
That is, when assembling a toner container such as the above described one, foreign substances sometimes entered the container. Thus, before filling a toner supply container with toner, the interior of the toner supply container had be cleaned by a cleaning method, for example, by blowing air into the toner container. However, some toner containers have a toner outlet with a relatively small opening, and/or are irregular across their internal surfaces, mating it difficult for air to sweep the entirety of the interior of the toner supply container. In other words, the foreign substances in some toner supply containers were very difficult to remove.
From the standpoint of effective use of natural resources, it is desired that a used toner supply container, that is, a toner supply container depleted of toner, is refilled with toner to be reused. However, some used toner supply containers contain such toner particles that have deteriorated due to their subjection to some kinds of heat during the container transportation Such used toner supply containers must be very carefully cleaned, before recycling, so that the toner particles therein are removed as much as possible. However, the interior of a toner supply container structured as described above is difficult to clean. This has been one of the main problems that have been impeding the recycling of a toner supply container.
Thus, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a developer supply container cleaning method which is capable of efficiently removing the foreign substances such as unwanted developer in a developer supply container, and which is characterized in that it does not deform a developer supply container during its cleaning.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a developer supply container remanufacturing method which is for reusing a developer supply container by efficiently removing the foreign substances such as unwanted developer in the developer supply container, and which is characterized in that it does not deform a developer supply container during its cleaning.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.